The Librarian's Internet--Art Smarts

The search engine on this Web site makes finding art-related lessons a snap. Either select "visual arts" and then the appropriate grade level (K–4, 5–8, 9–12), or simply plug in a keyword. Created by: The National Arts and Education Network and MarcoPolo. Don't Miss: The e-mail tab on every lesson plan makes it easy to share documents with a colleague. Detour: For another list of great visual arts lessons created by the National Endowment for the Humanities and MarcoPolo, go to edsitement.neh.gov/tab_lesson.asp?subjectArea=1.

This site contains a great selection of teacher-submitted art lessons for pre-K to grade eight. An especially unique category is "recycling" in which you'll find art projects for teachers on a shoestring budget. KinderArt offers other unique lesson topics, including textiles, sculpture, architecture, printmaking, and folk art. Created by: Andrea Mulder Slater and Jante Blokhuis-Mulder. Detour: For more teacher-created lessons, visit www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/ah.shtml and select either the "art history" or "visual arts" links.

Here's another collection of highly creative art lessons submitted by teachers and arranged by grade level. Most contain links to related sites and books that will probably be in your library's collection. Created by: Art educators Judy Decker and Ken Rohrer. Detour: Looking for more creative art lessons? Then check out ArtsEdNet at www.getty.edu/artsednet/resources/index.html.

Here you'll find interesting visual arts lessons arranged by grade level (pre-K–12), theme (books, crafts, holidays, etc.), medium (including watercolors, pencil, markers, chalk), and timeframe (e.g., 30 to 60 minutes). To access the lesson plans you must register (it's free of charge) and login with an e-mail address and password. There are banner ads, but they are clearly identified as such. Created by: Binney & Smith, makers of Crayola crayons.

The lessons on this site are designed around the content of PBS shows, such as American Masters and Art in the 21st Century. Created by: PBS TeacherSource, Public Broadcasting Service, Alexandria, VA. Don't Miss: Many of the lessons include printable (PDF) student or teacher materials and most contain links to related Web sites. The lessons for preschoolers and young elementary school children cover crafts as well as the visual arts—teachers will love them all!